Developers were also really hungry for more CSS which wasn't getting great implementation across browsers which is sort of where my I don't work here. Off in the industry as the browser Wars emerged. We wanted layout we want to design we wanted Behavior to enhance experiences
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So in the next few years right around 97-98 we had some CSS we had HTML with a lot of table base layouts and spacer GIFs and we had some JavaScript we had two competing browsers Netscape and Internet Explorer each of whom ended up adopting elements that challenged us so much.
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Internet Explorer implemented the div element for division but Netscape didn't follow along and made up its own alternative known as layer. We had one API which was the document object model which makes sense in a document based web. But we couldn't really move together easily.
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We had to figure out how to get what was come to known as Dynamic HTML or dhtml work with internet Explorer's development and the Netscape layer element. It was a brutal time because people were coming up with really cool things accessibility not so much but innovation yes.
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We saw a lot of mish-mosh from tools from developers using mixtures of CSS presentational HTML like font and colors and overwhelmingly difficult tables in order to achieve layouts along with JavaScript in competing browsers it became so overwhelming if you kids today knew haha
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As we were doing this work at the w3c was moving more into the XML space. The existential markup language is another Meadow language from which applications and subsets are made came out of us Gmail but with far more rigor still Proverbs but better markup this became xhtml. So
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More rigorous markups and creative CSS began to allow for more JavaScript to be used industry evangelist such as Jeremy Keith and others really began to think you know we want to do all this but we don't want to obfuscate content we want JavaScript to be unobtrusive
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A new time was emerging. We had strong markup and better ideas about content pause. CSS was starting to mature so we had more options there and we were getting more skilled with how we used JavaScript but kept the content open for accessibility. But there was one big problem.
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To Microsoft's credit that a browser they made and stopped innovating on 5 years in Internet years which is what a blink of an eye had implemented some very cool things otherwise. But issues like Box model, Dom, emerging CSS options caused us nightmares.
May 23, 2022 · 3:37 AM UTC
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It's important to remember we did not have the near browser monoculture we have today back then. Internet Explorer, Mozilla, Opera, Safari where at different implementations and doing different things in their rendering. Safari and open source projects especially allowed for
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A better open source rendering engine that eventually did become adopted by the major browsers we use now that's solved a lot of problems. The w3c began to modularize CSS which was a wonderful move because it meant implementations to be done in Cycles longer than years at a time.
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The web standards project shifted perspective as Jeffrey wanted to go back to design and other projects so myself and Steve Champeon stepped into the coal lead of the web standards project he worked on the technology and kept us moving forward well I went on a lot of ranting LOL
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Robert scoble and other people from the Microsoft environment began to listen and open up and thus began a shift along with the wonderful Chris Wilson who had been hanging in there through all of this through the web standards project 2 over 40 members with different task forces.
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One of those task forces was myself, the Visionary JavaScript developer Dean Edwards who had actually used Microsoft Technology and JavaScript to implement settings with one script call which he humorously referred to as i e 7. Microsoft invited myself @meyerweb others to come
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We spoke at a conference before the big Nick's conferences I believe where we gave perspectives on things that could be done together to get better Harmony and improve life for everyone bye bringing especially now CSS features forward. Advocacy across the world opened windows;-)
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Many people were writing books doing talks Outreach education these were developers and designers not necessarily people working on specifications at the w3c as was their Charter or Microsoft except for the web platform fellows often at the w3c like Marcus mielke and Chris Wilson
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Well they decided to move forward with ie7 and Implement as much CSS improve JavaScript and prove the document object model and the only thing really missing at that point was offering consistent mime types to serve XML as an application which has benefits and challenges still.
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Suddenly I find myself at a mixing Mash with colleagues Tonto cilic and Williams my Carrington was still at TechCrunch the ever wonderful Kelly Goto along with many other folks visited Microsoft for insight into their upcoming Mix n Mash conference. Ie7 was coming! We
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Had a chance at the end of the session to sit down with Bill Gates himself and speak individually with him a bit about our unique concerns or feedback regarding issues with Microsoft and developers in the wild I cannot say how unusual this was for a company like that open up
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It was really down to so many different people it would take years to name them all but they did an amazing job at bringing together just the right folks although of course you can only imagine that when it got to me I really didn't have much to say did I hahaha
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Bill Gates and I were sitting two and a half feet across a conference table eye-to-eye. Well I was never nervous about that I realized the weight of the significance of what was happening and that was the first time and maybe only time in my life where I got nervous.
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It took me a little time to get those first words out but he masterfully took a few beads after my question and made a rather dark joke about well I don't know it would be like to own the web it sounds attractive and the entire room just lost it laughing we sparred for a while
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Generally Charming a little invasion was finally he says well what is this obscure thing you need implemented which was not obscure at all it was the CSS specification which he promised then and there to ensure would move forward and made a public commitment to make it happen.
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So things begin to align we had rigorous markup oh, far better ways of doing CSS including the emergence of what we call Progressive design and adaptive design from Ethan marcotte and Aaron Gustafson respectively. Things started getting exciting and we had some browser equality.
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So this guy Dave in Vancouver started project where he did a proof-of-concept using more meaningful xhtml non presentational but what we would term semantic as in meaningful as much as possible use of elements to the content. So this guy Dave build a clean XHTML Hage with content
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Sorry xhtml page with content nobody could touch that they could only add CSS leaving a proof-of-concept that would appeared on the visual screen was beautiful while the underlying content and markup was accessible clean and the same. Shout out if you remember or did a design!
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Juicy stuff! IE, Firefox, Safari, Opera, any browser of the day was rendering now a to stack layer with markup and content in xhtml that was accessible, diverse beautiful. Fonts Dynamic CSS menus using no JavaScript and on and on a list of awesome transcending the constraints
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I was working on some book here in Tucson one day in my office and I get an email. The email was so polite and kind and said hey my name is Dave I want to thank you for inspiring me through one of your books to take my what I believe was an art degree or graphic design degree
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And inspiring me to become a web designer. I've written a bunch of books and I've had a lot of encounters with Guys across the world who have the name Dave so it didn't hit me right away I wrote back a kind thank you and kept working when 5 minutes later he wrote me back.
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He adds by the way I'm the Dave if you've not seen it who's been working on the proof-of-concept project this CSS zen garden of course I've seen it I fell out of my damn chair and there was your Miss Molly not knowing whether to laugh cry or both so I did both
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I finally pick myself up and was just humbled and in awe of an experience of knowing that we can change the world together even if we are apart. It was the moment is teacher became a humble student indeed. Fast forward a few months we meet up at South by Southwest in Austin Texas
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We start talking and he's picking my brain about book writing and ideas and it comes upon us that hey maybe together with his design abilities and his genius idea and my book writing experience and organizational experience we could have a potential game-changer on our hands
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At this point the CSS zen garden had grown so large with so many brilliant beautiful design work and I went off to the Waterside conference who where the agency for book authors such as myself and I ran into New Riders publisher Nancy who said hey got any ideas Molly?
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And so one of the best selling web design books in history Zen of CSS design was born as an idea. Dave lived in Vancouver I was traveling as well as living in Tucson Arizona we somehow figured out a workflow got with the designers picked out what we were going to work
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And that wonderful book was born. The advantage of the book is that an extended the experience of what Dave had done other designers and developers who got involved and created one of the most beautiful web destinations proving content markup CSS and accessibility we're beautiful
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The one thing left out however was JavaScript and behavior and in the next few years as browsers began to evolve and Microsoft lose the long and Google became powerful and JavaScript via ecma and @BrendanEich as well as the Mozilla team Advanced JavaScript as well.
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For me it was one of the most exciting moments in web history to see those things come together this lasted a few years where evangelism and growth and better compatibility really started coming together along with other cool things like xmlhttprequest Ajax, restful development
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Of course Matt Mullen Woods wonderful WordPress and other platforms begin to emerge including sweater which had already been taking off and Facebook as our primary social networks with bloggers and other independent blogs becoming the new of the day. The phone rings in my office
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